We often hear couples speak about their partner as their “best friend.” There may be a lesson here for the multigenerational household. What if everyone was able to treat everyone else as a friend instead of, or better yet in addition to, them being a relative. Is you grandfather-in-law your friend? Is your niece your..Read the rest…

One of our staff came back to the office from vacation that included a small family reunion. It was the first time in nearly a decade that all four brothers and sisters were in the same place at the same time. She reported one interesting evening when they were trying to tell the story of..Read the rest…

We were stumped when we saw the ad for a “multigenerational sale.” What could that possibly mean? Sure yard sales and estate sales often have a lot of old stuff being offered, did the multi-gen tag just mean that? Fortunately we had a staffer living within driving distance of the advertised address so we asked..Read the rest…

A good friend of ours was frustrated that she and her daughter seemed to agree on absolutely nothing. Not clothes, food, who she should date, if she should date, movies, art and in particular what are appropriate rules for a 13 yr. old girl.
Fortunately for our friend, she lives in a multigenerational situation with her..Read the rest…

Ask anyone over fifty and they will tell you the first time they felt dismissed. Ask any teenager and they will tell you about more than one time when they heard: “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
The fact of the matter is that when it comes to age, nearly all of us are bigots! We dismiss..Read the rest…

There is a wealth of literature about intergenerational cooperation in the workplace. Also it seems there is a lot of concern about the changing of the generational guard in large businesses. For instance:
“Something must be done to prevent the loss of intellectual capital as Baby Boomers and Traditionalists retire and fail to pass on their..Read the rest…

“So what is living with your parents really like?”
“How does it work with two mothers under the same roof?”
“Doesn’t Grandma spoil the kids?”
“Who sets the rules? Who enforces them?”
Go ahead you probably have another dozen questions about entering into a multigenerational living situation. We know we do. So we sat down with some folks who..Read the rest…

New Multi-Gen Comic Strip: Cartoonist Ed Stein will be launching a new comic strip on September 20th. The strip is called Freshly Squeezed and will be based on a multi-generational household. ”Can three generations of one family share their lives, their feelings, their dwindling fortune — and a bathroom?” Apparently these questions all get their humorous due. So..Read the rest…

When a multigenerational family occupies an already existing building, almost immediately there are thoughts of remodeling. The bigger refiguring space jobs should be given a lot of thought but while you are doing that there are some smaller considerations that can make the multi-gen home more… well, multigenerationally friendly.
Some of these should be incorporated into..Read the rest…

In a multigenerational home with dependent children — who can claim the child or children as dependents for the purposes of income taxes?
Well the first thing we want to say is — it dependents. IRS offers some clear guidelines but not every situation fits exactly into the tax code, but in general these are the..Read the rest…